Magna Popped, now lights are wonky

[Wayne]

I was riding the Magna home from work when it gave a good pop and the engine died.  It was less than a backfire, but still quite loud.

I pulled over to the side of the highway and put it in neutral (coasting).   While doing so, I tried starting the engine.  No luck--everything went dark.

Remember, this is my currently my only vehicle.  And being stranded in the desert on the side of the road with no way to get home or work was not a good place to be.

I put it in fourth and slid the clutch out--the bike started up.  I rode it carefully home.

I noticed the following changes:
- The bike runs normal now.
- All lights work fine with exception of the two front running lights.

- When I turn and cancel the turn signal by pushing it in, the opposite indicator light goes out and stays out.

- When I turn and cancel the turn signal by quickly flipping the signal the other way, both front running light stay on.

- With both lights on (not flashing), when I push the indicator button in, the front right light blinks off momentarily.

Anyone have any ideas?  Since it starts, I'm not thinking it was a battery cell that popped.  Plus, no liquid dripped out, and the bike still starts fine at home.

I won't have until the weekend to pull it apart and figure it out, hints guesses, or past experience with this issue would be appreciated.

[roboto65]

Battery popped a cell ~!!!!!!

[Sledge Hammer]

Wayne, have you measured your battery voltage? You might try measuring it both with the bike off and again when running at about 3000 rpm. I'd have to go through the schematic carefully to suggest specific possibilities based on your description, but you might as well start with a thorough visual  before we start tossing theories around. Could be intermittent, but for starters I would check around the ignition switch to make sure none of the wire insulation is damaged and then check the wiring in the headlight nacelle since a lot of the critical switch wiring seems to go through a connector hidden in the "bucket." Failing that, I would pull the tank and the seat and start looking carefully for any signs of grayish white smoke deposits especially as wires run next to metal.

Did you roll-start your bike in fourth gear or did the starter switch work?

[hootmon]

without the wonky lights, I had a very similar thing happen to me on my bike..
I was riding along and everything went dead and a loud pop from the exhaust..
Turned out my regulator was putting out about 18 volts and boiled the battery dry. I was able to add water to the battery and get it home..
Since you have a 96 Magna, I'd check the regulator, by checking the voltage as suggested by Sledge Hammer.. If you find the regulator is bad.. Start their (and probably the battery) and then see where your electrical issues are..

[dgc67]

- When I turn and cancel the turn signal by pushing it in, the opposite indicator light goes out and stays out.

- When I turn and cancel the turn signal by quickly flipping the signal the other way, both front running light stay on.

- With both lights on (not flashing), when I push the indicator button in, the front right light blinks off momentarily.

I would do everything listed above, but keep it in your head that you might have a short somewhere as well.  Could be that something heated up and melted during that episode.

[hootmon]

I was riding the Magna home from work when it gave a good pop and the engine died.  It was less than a backfire, but still quite loud.

I pulled over to the side of the highway and put it in neutral (coasting).   While doing so, I tried starting the engine.  No luck--everything went dark.

Did everything go dark when it popped, or just when you hit the starter switch..??

[Wayne]

Got my answer. 

Driving into work today, I got the backfire-sputter.  The Magna would only chug on around 200 rpm in neutral--putting it in gear killed it and it wouldn't restart.  Lights were wonky.  A few minutes later (trying again), I turned the key but all lights were dead.

Tow truck driver said 60 min...then 30 more....then 30 more....took a little over 2 hours.  Then straight down the road, to Musselman Honda.  10 minutes later, Honda had the seat off, tightened the ground screw, and had the bike running great again.  Honda says they see this a lot here in Tucson; it's their $40 special.  Most of the roads here suck; very bouncy.  And of course, my dirt-biking probably didn't help.  (State highways south of me are graded dirt.)

A long time ago (other forum), when I did a bad jump and blew out my bike computer, I mentioned the battery is actually part of the circuit.  You can't remove the battery and run the bike, like you can an automobile.  That was clue #1 I missed.

The GPS power stopped working a few weeks ago.  I thought it was because I used (testing my connection first) single-strand copper wire and it broke due to flexxing.  Nope, it was Clue #2 that I missed.

Dead lights was clue #3.

I paid the $38 stupid tax, rode the motorcycle into work, got here around 1 pm instead of the normal 7-8 am.  I could have fixed the motorcycle in the time it took for the tow truck to show up.

But for a few hours there...
- My car has been in the shop for 3 weeks now.
- My motorcycle was dead
- My bicycle has a flat front tire.

At least I have one vehicle up and running now.
Thanks for suggestions.  It was the easiest option of all.

[Sledge Hammer]

I paid the $38 stupid tax, rode the motorcycle into work, got here around 1 pm instead of the normal 7-8 am.  I could have fixed the motorcycle in the time it took for the tow truck to show up.

But for a few hours there...
- My car has been in the shop for 3 weeks now.
- My motorcycle was dead
- My bicycle has a flat front tire.

At least I have one vehicle up and running now.
Thanks for suggestions.  It was the easiest option of all.

I think you're being a little too critical of yourself. Like you said, breaking down in the desert is more than a mere inconvenience, and under the circumstances -- including the other stress factors -- I think most of us would have had difficulty picking the failure on the first couple of tries out of all the possibilities. It happened to this lady on her trip through Pakistan on her Magna http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/newsletter/2003-08-01.shtml and, thanks to my having remembered reading that a few years ago, I was able to figure out my own bike's battery cables were loose and causing some performance problems before it stranded me without a clue.

By the way, I would be surprised the rough roads are the culprit so much as the temperature cycling and high-frequency vibrations from the engine. The roads where I live are quite smooth despite the best efforts of the DOT and the utilities and I still find that I have to tighten the battery connections and the footpeg bracket bolts fairly regularly. Makes me wonder what else is loosening up that I haven't checked and oughta... 

[Magnum Magna]

I am sorry.

The pop sound through me.  Other wish I would have said check the terminal.

My terminal were loose last weekend.  This week I added a ring tonque terminals to my positive and ground posts.  I have two wires coming off of each ring tonque. Then wired all my accessaries to the wires.   That way no wires are under my terminal bolt to shift and loosen the connection.       

[TLRam1]

I had this happen to me more than once, The pop sound was the backfire from no juice to a reconnect of power. While riding flip your kill switch OFF than ON, same effect.

[dgc67]

I kinda like how after you found your problem the posts come saying, oh yes, very common problem.  Seen it before.   

[Sledge Hammer]

I kinda like how after you found your problem the posts come saying, oh yes, very common problem.  Seen it before.   

Yep! It's the trap of thinking the same problem will always cause the same symptoms. Like Robert, I was focused on figuring out the popping, assuming (wrongly) that it was electrical in nature because all of the other symptoms were electrical. Bad engineer! Bad! When it happened to mine, the terminals had not loosened up to the point where it actually quit, but was difficult to start. I noticed the engine ran a lot more strongly after I tightened the terminals down. A definite "Duh" moment.

[TLRam1]

I kinda like how after you found your problem the posts come saying, oh yes, very common problem.  Seen it before.   

HAHA but of course, mama didn't raise no fool! 

[hootmon]

And of course I'm going to go for the regulator on a pre-2000, since I've been through two of them..
The intermittancy through me off.
Glad you got it figured out
Anybody use any conductive grease or star washer to keep things from corroding and coming loose?
I use a Battery spray (I think it's just wd-40 with some red dye)..